The Airlines PNG crash and icy diplomatic conditions with China took Stephen Smith up 10 places to a rare appearance in the top 5, while the report of the Black Saturday Commission pushed John Brumby up the list as well.

Meanwhile the main players in the emissions trading brouhaha fill up the mid to lower sections of the Top 20, as most people making any attempt to follow the issue slip in and out of a politically induced coma.

Meanwhile Wayne Swan drops down the list under the weight of all that good economic news, and Opposition tactics for the next election (if the Libs are smart enough to avoid a double dissolution) starts to look more and more like a campaign on good old rising interest rates. Plus ca change…

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Political talkback dominated by South Australians this week, mainly owing to water … or the lack thereof.

Six weeks after his death and the poor bugger isn’t even buried yet, either literally or in tabloid terms — Exhibit A from the Daily Telegraph: “Inside Jacko’s secret freezer tomb” — who wouldn’t pay for THAT story?

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.